Elle UKThe odds are slim, but occasionally celebrities are spotted wearing identical or similar designer gowns to an event. The responsibility of such a fashion faux pas usually falls on the designer who is lending out the garments and the stylist to determine in advance if other leading ladies will be wearing the same dress. But what about magazine covers? The July issue of W, and the August issues of Elle UK, and British Vogue all feature the same appliquéd Miu Miu dress on the cover. And while the dress, a $3,000-$5,000 creation designed by Miuccia Prada, was part of a critically adored collection, that's one huge coincidence.
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The dresses in question, while similar, are not 100% identical. W shows Eva Mendes and British Vogue displays Danish model Freja Beha Erichsen both wearing the same yellow dress (though the latter's appears orange on the cover), while Lily Allen models a similar lilac lace version for Elle UK. But with the exponential amount of garments out there and one cover per month, it's pretty unbelievable that all three of these major magazine titles chose to highlight the Miu Miu dress.
WThe Guardian spoke to Lorraine Candy, the editor-in-chief of Elle UK, who weighed in on the situation. "Usually press offices are pretty good at making sure we don't get the same dress as our rivals," said Candy. "You have to take these things in your stride," she told the Guardian, but admitted that "obviously I'd rather it wasn't on a major rival." This morning Candy took to her Twitter account to comment further. "Everyone gone bonkers about similar miu miu dress on vogue, ELLE and W this month. Ours is best obv (sic) but is silly season news madness." Vogue did not care to comment. When we reached out to the press office at W, they said that fashion director Alex White, who was responsible for styling and directing the shoot, wasn't available for comment. They said they believe the dress was the perfect choice for a vibrant summer cover, and that the similar cover shots are a coincidence.
While it may look as though some press hungry publicists at Miu Miu were desperate to get their garments maximum exposure, as Candy mentioned there are politics that would typically prevent such a faux pas from happening. Brands work with magazines to make sure no single title has the monopoly on their goods, and tries to be diplomatic about distributing their most coveted items amongst the fashion world without too much overlap.
British VogueFrom a magazine perspective, it's very surprising that the same Miu Miu dress appeared on three different covers. Hundreds of items are dropped off and picked up from big name fashion publications like W, Vogue, and Elle on any given day to be potentially photographed for publication. Many factors go into final cover decisions. In this scenario, the fashion editors all had to bring the Miu Miu dress along to the shoot, and select it as a viable cover option. Next, Eva Mendes, Freja Beha Erichsen, and Lily Allen must fit into the sample size and agree to wear the dress. Though their opinion isn't always top priority, the women on magazine covers do get some say in what they feel like wearing, and what they feel comfortable in. And lastly, the photograph of the ladies in the Miu Miu dress must make for the best cover shots. Sometimes one dress may seem like the nicest option for the cover, but editors will prefer how their cover lady is posed wearing something else. Magazines also often test their cover options out to see how they are received and will even cast votes before deciding on an image. For W, British Vogue, and Elle UK everything came up Miu Miu.
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In the end, this coincidence seems to be a good one all around. While editors vie to have original, standout covers, this incident in itself means more press for each party involved. Surely the triple exposure helps Miu Miu, but the magazines are the ones who need it most. With their September issues gratefully rebounding with more ad sales than last year, which was quite dismal, these publications need all the viewers they can get to stay afloat. [Guardian][Yahoo]
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